With hundreds of Indian restaurants in New York City, one would think finding authentic food, or desi khana, would be easy. But many still hark back to the wave of Indian restaurants that opened in the 1970s and ’80s, offering a homogenized derivative of the meaty cuisines of Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Indian state of Punjab — from which the majority of their owners hail. And like the wave of Chinese food before it, Indian food was often made bland for American palates, with a handful of dishes from a few regions becoming ubiquitous.
But it is possible to experience Indian food in its unadulterated form at four New York outposts of Indian chains. During the three years I worked as a journalist in India, I obsessed over sampling different regional cuisines, and in the course of my exploration ate at all of the flagship locations of these Indian chains. In the New York outposts, authenticity is paramount — evidenced by their predominantly Indian clientele.
Really Loved the mutton biriyani at Anjappar
Loved the Kizhi Parotta steamed in banana leaf. Very unique.
